Impact of TikTok trends on teens
Tiktok is one of the fastest growing social media apps that allow users to share 15-second videos of any topic. The app offers a wide selection of songs, music, filters and effects to allow you to get creative! However, Tiktok has raised some concern due to the alarming amount of videos that are glorifying unhealthy relationships with food and harmful dieting trends. Social media has created an environment where dieting information and diet culture can be shared wider than ever before.
Tiktok users are bombarded with videos that are promoting dieting and restrictive behaviours. These types of videos have millions of views and users in their teens aged 10-19, account for 25 percent of these views (1). This is of particular danger as these are the ages where ideas/opinions about the world, relationships with food and most importantly yourself are formed. Tiktok has an algorithm which influences the videos that are shown on your ‘just for you’ page. The hashtags used, location, likes, music choice and other engagement with the posts influence the algorithm. This means that your Tiktok page is likely to be filled with food and diet related posts which can become very overwhelming, especially if the messages are being internalised.
Different dieting trends have gone viral such as ‘what i eat in a day’ posts which have skyrocketed to over 6.7 billion views (2). These posts include a day's worth of eating that is normally around ~1200 calories which normalises the consumption of dangerously low amounts of food.
These videos can shape the idea of how you ‘should’ be eating, creating discomfort around food and eating and promoting undereating.
Weight loss seems to be the focus of the majority of posts which emphasises the premise of ‘clean’ eating and guilt around foods that are deemed as unhealthy. Orthorexia can develop as a result which refers to an unhealthy obsession with eating “pure” food and a self-punishing relationship with food.
Teenagers are likely to look up to people based on their weight and how ‘thin’ they are as they may aspire to look like the influencers they are watching. This can result in teenagers feeling bad about eating which can spiral into comparing themselves to others and in turn can lead to developing a low self-esteem and potentially an eating disorder.
The important message to take home is that everyone has individual needs and each person will require different nutritional requirements. There are many factors such as genetics and cultural traits that contribute to our bone structure, body size, shape, and weight.
‘Even if everyone started eating the same things and did the same amount of exercise for a whole year, we would not all look the same at the end of the year’ (3).
The focus is normally centred around aesthetic, weight and how food influences how we look but food is much more than that!
Food is our fuel and is crucial for our bodies to function as it provides energy for our bodily processes to occur. Restricting calories can result in many negative effects to our body e.g. metabolic changes that slow down the metabolism and can actually result in weight gain (4) and increased stress due to an increase in cortisol (5). Restriction and undereating can also impact growth and development in teenagers!
Our Advice
It can be difficult to filter through posts as we have been fed misinformation for years around food. It is natural to feel confused about what the best choices are for our health as there are so many conflicting views but here’s what you can do…
- Ditch the diets! Check out our article for more information: https://nutrition-rocks.co.uk/nutrition-blog/2020/12/17/why-not-to-diet?rq=ditch
- Challenge the content! Ask yourself: do the videos seem realistic? Is this healthy for me? Will this make me feel better? Could this potentially be harmful for me?
- Unfollow accounts that could be triggering for you or provide advice that is not backed up with evidence. Follow registered nutritionists and dietitians who are qualified to provide evidence-based research.
- Practice self-love and gratitude! It is also important to speak up about any worries and concerns you have! Or you might like to consider starting a journal - at the end of each day take some time to write down all the things you are grateful for that day.
- If you are experiencing any difficulty or anxiety with food or your relationship with yourself, BEAT offers support for you and your loved ones. You are never alone. https://www.beateatingdisorders.org.uk/
Written by: Zoe Panaretou (ANutr)